| Date | 20 July 1996 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, Atlanta, Georgia |
| Participants | 43 from 36 countries |
The 200 metres freestyle for men was considered amongst the most open events on the 1996 schedule and a case could be made for each of 10 to win the Olympic gold. At the Barcelona Olympics New Zealand’s Danyon Loader had won the silver medal at 200 metres butterfly and was also known as a 400 metres freestyle swimmer. Historically the 200 freestyle was his third event but he won the 1995 Pan Pacific meet, also held in Atlanta, at the distance.
Although he was always up in contention, he trailed veteran Anders Holmertz in the early stages as the Swede led the Olympic final at the halfway stage for the third Games in succession. Just as at Seoul and Barcelona Holmertz faded over the second part of the race and Loader took over just prior to the 150 m mark. He then swam away from the field to win by just under half a second to become his country’s first ever Olympic swimming champion. Brazilian Gustavo Borges just pipped Daniel Kowalski of Australia for the silver medal.
The eighth and final qualifier for the final was Paul Palmer of Great Britain. Palmer had tied Jani Sievinen for the last qualifying place which necessitated a swim-off. Incredibly the swim-off also resulted in a tie. Sievinen withdrew from the second swim-off so Palmer progressed.
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | R1 | B Final | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Danyon Loader |  NZL | 1:48.48 (1 h4) | – | 1:47.63 (1) | Gold | ||
| 2 | Gustavo Borges |  BRA | 1:49.00 (2 h4) | – | 1:48.08 (2) | Silver | ||
| 3 | Daniel Kowalski |  AUS | 1:48.92 (2 h6) | – | 1:48.25 (3) | Bronze | ||
| 4 | Pieter van den Hoogenband |  NED | 1:48.68 (1 h6) | – | 1:48.36 (4) | |||
| 5 | Anders Holmertz |  SWE | 1:48.41 (1 h5) | – | 1:48.42 (5) | |||
| 6 | Massi Rosolino |  ITA | 1:48.80 (3 h5) | – | 1:48.50 (6) | |||
| 7 | Josh Davis |  USA | 1:48.63 (2 h5) | – | 1:48.54 (7) | |||
| 8 | Paul Palmer |  GBR | 1:49.05 (=3 h4) | – | 1:49.39 (8) | |||
| 9 | Aimo Heilmann |  GER | 1:49.57 (5 h4) | 1:48.81 (1) | – | |||
| 10 | Michael Klim | AUS | 1:49.17 (3 h6) | 1:49.50 (2) | – | |||
| 11 | Vladimir Pyshnenko |  RUS | 1:49.79 (6 h4) | 1:49.55 (3) | – | |||
| 12 | John Piersma | USA | 1:50.59 (5 h5) | 1:49.90 (4) | – | |||
| 13 | Piermaria Siciliano | ITA | 1:49.88 (4 h5) | 1:50.07 (5) | – | |||
| 14 | Jacob Carstensen |  DEN | 1:50.79 (5 h6) | 1:50.54 (6) | – | |||
| 15 | Andrew Clayton | GBR | 1:51.06 (6 h6) | 1:50.59 (7) | – | |||
| 16 | Nicolae Butacu |  ROU | 1:50.83 (7 h4) | 1:51.46 (8) | – | |||
| 17 | Jani Sievinen |  FIN | 1:49.05 (=3 h4) | – | – | 1 | ||
| 18 | Antti Kasvio | FIN | 1:50.55 (4 h6) | – | – | 2 | ||
| 19 | Miroslav Vučetić |  CRO | 1:51.26 (1 h3) | – | – | |||
| =20 | Attila Czene |  HUN | 1:51.59 (8 h4) | – | – | |||
| =20 | Trent Bray | NZL | 1:51.59 (7 h6) | – | – | |||
| 22 | Aleksey Yegorov |  KAZ | 1:51.66 (8 h6) | – | – | |||
| 23 | Shunsuke Ito |  JPN | 1:51.97 (6 h5) | – | – | |||
| 24 | Christophe Bordeau |  FRA | 1:52.17 (7 h5) | – | – | |||
| 25 | Miklós Kollár | HUN | 1:52.19 (8 h5) | – | – | |||
| 26 | Go Un-Ho |  KOR | 1:52.80 (2 h3) | – | – | |||
| 27 | Carlos Santander |  VEN | 1:53.13 (1 h1) | – | – | |||
| 28 | Vyacheslav Kabanov |  UZB | 1:53.36 (3 h3) | – | – | |||
| 29 | Earl McCarthy |  IRL | 1:53.67 (4 h3) | – | – | |||
| 30 | Dimitrios Manganas |  GRE | 1:53.84 (5 h3) | – | – | |||
| 31 | Salim Iles |  ALG | 1:54.10 (6 h3) | – | – | |||
| 32 | José Isaza |  PAN | 1:54.58 (1 h2) | – | – | |||
| 33 | Torlarp Sethsothorn |  THA | 1:54.73 (7 h3) | – | – | |||
| 34 | Jure Bučar |  SLO | 1:54.75 (2 h2) | – | – | |||
| 35 | Raymond Papa |  PHI | 1:54.77 (3 h2) | – | – | |||
| 36 | Bartosz Sikora |  POL | 1:55.33 (4 h2) | – | – | |||
| 37 | Sng Ju Wei |  SGP | 1:55.51 (5 h2) | – | – | |||
| 38 | Dmitry Lapin |  KGZ | 1:55.52 (6 h2) | – | – | |||
| 39 | Carl Probert |  FIJ | 1:56.33 (2 h1) | – | – | |||
| 40 | Felipe Delgado |  ECU | 1:57.10 (7 h2) | – | – | |||
| 41 | Andrei Zaharov |  MDA | 1:57.47 (8 h3) | – | – | |||
| 42 | Denys Zavhorodnyi |  UKR | 1:58.67 (8 h2) | – | – | |||
| 43 | Thamer Al-Shamroukh |  KUW | 2:13.75 (3 h1) | – | – |
| Date | 20 July 1996 |
|---|---|
| Format | Fastest eight advanced to the final. Places 9-16 advanced to the B Final. |
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Carlos Santander | VEN | 1:53.13 | ||
| 2 | 3 | Carl Probert | FIJ | 1:56.33 | ||
| 3 | 5 | Thamer Al-Shamroukh | KUW | 2:13.75 |
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | José Isaza | PAN | 1:54.58 | ||
| 2 | 3 | Jure Bučar | SLO | 1:54.75 | ||
| 3 | 1 | Raymond Papa | PHI | 1:54.77 | ||
| 4 | 4 | Bartosz Sikora | POL | 1:55.33 | ||
| 5 | 5 | Sng Ju Wei | SGP | 1:55.51 | ||
| 6 | 2 | Dmitry Lapin | KGZ | 1:55.52 | ||
| 7 | 8 | Felipe Delgado | ECU | 1:57.10 | ||
| 8 | 7 | Denys Zavhorodnyi | UKR | 1:58.67 |
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Miroslav Vučetić | CRO | 1:51.26 | ||
| 2 | 1 | Go Un-Ho | KOR | 1:52.80 | ||
| 3 | 7 | Vyacheslav Kabanov | UZB | 1:53.36 | ||
| 4 | 5 | Earl McCarthy | IRL | 1:53.67 | ||
| 5 | 4 | Dimitrios Manganas | GRE | 1:53.84 | ||
| 6 | 6 | Salim Iles | ALG | 1:54.10 | ||
| 7 | 8 | Torlarp Sethsothorn | THA | 1:54.73 | ||
| 8 | 2 | Andrei Zaharov | MDA | 1:57.47 |
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Danyon Loader | NZL | 1:48.48 | ||
| 2 | 1 | Gustavo Borges | BRA | 1:49.00 | ||
| =3 | 2 | Paul Palmer | GBR | 1:49.05 | ||
| =3 | 5 | Jani Sievinen | FIN | 1:49.05 | ||
| 5 | 7 | Aimo Heilmann | GER | 1:49.57 | ||
| 6 | 6 | Vladimir Pyshnenko | RUS | 1:49.79 | ||
| 7 | 8 | Nicolae Butacu | ROU | 1:50.83 | ||
| 8 | 3 | Attila Czene | HUN | 1:51.59 |
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Anders Holmertz | SWE | 1:48.41 | ||
| 2 | 4 | Josh Davis | USA | 1:48.63 | ||
| 3 | 2 | Massi Rosolino | ITA | 1:48.80 | ||
| 4 | 6 | Piermaria Siciliano | ITA | 1:49.88 | ||
| 5 | 5 | John Piersma | USA | 1:50.59 | ||
| 6 | 8 | Shunsuke Ito | JPN | 1:51.97 | ||
| 7 | 1 | Christophe Bordeau | FRA | 1:52.17 | ||
| 8 | 7 | Miklós Kollár | HUN | 1:52.19 |
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Pieter van den Hoogenband | NED | 1:48.68 | ||
| 2 | 3 | Daniel Kowalski | AUS | 1:48.92 | ||
| 3 | 4 | Michael Klim | AUS | 1:49.17 | ||
| 4 | 6 | Antti Kasvio | FIN | 1:50.55 | ||
| 5 | 1 | Jacob Carstensen | DEN | 1:50.79 | ||
| 6 | 7 | Andrew Clayton | GBR | 1:51.06 | ||
| 7 | 2 | Trent Bray | NZL | 1:51.59 | ||
| 8 | 8 | Aleksey Yegorov | KAZ | 1:51.66 |
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| =1 | 5 | Paul Palmer | GBR | 1:48.89 | 3 | |
| =1 | 4 | Jani Sievinen | FIN | 1:48.89 | 4 |
| Date | 20 July 1996 — 20:50 |
|---|
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Aimo Heilmann | GER | 1:48.81 | ||
| 2 | 4 | Michael Klim | AUS | 1:49.50 | ||
| 3 | 3 | Vladimir Pyshnenko | RUS | 1:49.55 | ||
| 4 | 2 | John Piersma | USA | 1:49.90 | ||
| 5 | 6 | Piermaria Siciliano | ITA | 1:50.07 | ||
| 6 | 7 | Jacob Carstensen | DEN | 1:50.54 | ||
| 7 | 8 | Andrew Clayton | GBR | 1:50.59 | ||
| 8 | 1 | Nicolae Butacu | ROU | 1:51.46 |
| Date | 20 July 1996 |
|---|
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Danyon Loader | NZL | 1:47.63 | ||
| 2 | 1 | Gustavo Borges | BRA | 1:48.08 | ||
| 3 | 7 | Daniel Kowalski | AUS | 1:48.25 | ||
| 4 | 6 | Pieter van den Hoogenband | NED | 1:48.36 | ||
| 5 | 4 | Anders Holmertz | SWE | 1:48.42 | ||
| 6 | 2 | Massi Rosolino | ITA | 1:48.50 | ||
| 7 | 3 | Josh Davis | USA | 1:48.54 | ||
| 8 | 8 | Paul Palmer | GBR | 1:49.39 |
